Ghost Pains
by Mochytea
Summary: After a devastating loss at the end of her Kanto League challenge, Tess starts over in a homely town in Johto, hoping to leave her past behind. But when a small robbery sets her feet back on a familiar, well-beaten path, she realizes the evil she thought to be dead has risen once again. And this time, she's prepared.
1. The End

"Sigma, Future Sight."

The air was dry, crackling with electricity and power that shot out from the spoons in the battered Alakazam's claws. Its eyes glowed white and the star on its forehead pulsated gently, a sure sign that another psychic attack was building.

Rubble was strewn around the gym, remnants from the recent battles the building had suffered. The bodies of still-warm beasts lay amidst the concrete chunks and fragments of glass, and dust motes sparkled grimly in the outdoor spotlights that pierced the darkness through broken windows.

A young woman was standing behind the Alakazam. Blood dripped from various cuts that covered her body through torn slits in her clothes. Her face was stained by tears, but her eyes remained cold and hard.

"This is the end, Giovanni," she hissed at the injured man lying on the ground across from her, her voice rough and low. "You have nothing left now." Her left hand tightened on a small red and white orb, its companions lying shattered on the broken floor. Sigma's pulsing star grew brighter and stronger.

But the older man said nothing, the grin on his face only growing larger with every word she said. His gaze shone in the sparse and flickering light as his eyes flitted over the carnage around him.

"You have done well, child," Giovanni said, flicking a streamlet of blood away from his brow and straightening up from the floor. His injuries appeared worse than the woman's, but there was no hesitation in his movements as he stood. "To remain...intact, after all this? You have far more to boast about than most trainers who have faced me in the past.

"None of my opponents have been able to wipe out so much of my team as you have," he said, sneering as the young woman glanced away, tears threatening to spill over once again. "Why waste your weeping on failures? They deserved to die, if they could not fight to survive." Giovanni eyed the defiant Alakazam, spoons still shaking with power. "At least you know you have trained one worthy beast."

"One more than you have, you monster," the young woman cried.

Giovanni's grin broke into laughter, the gutless, breathless kind that nearly made him choke from all the grit floating in the dry air.

"Oh, child," he wheezed, "that's where you're poorly mistaken."

Her streaming eyes, dead from her deeds, grew wider.

"What do you mean?" she whispered. "They… I killed them. All of them. I ordered it and I saw it happen, each and every single death."

Silently reaching into his tattered coat, Giovanni pulled out a small, glimmering object that caught in the light. It was a Silph scope, with a number of tiny metallic attachments to it that whirred softly, somehow audible against the increasingly loud sirens approaching in the distance. As the object started to glow, he quickly touched a bloody finger to his ear, his pupils darting briefly to a cavity in the wall before settling back on the young woman.

"I know I have just applauded you for have gotten this far in your challenge. But the few men and women who have surpassed me in rank have never faced me in battle." He fiddled with the object's attachments as he spoke. "So far none have claimed victory from me in my own gym, and you will not be so different, child. When you have grown as old and as powerful as I have, you learn some new tricks." The Silph scope in Giovanni's hand began shaking in tandem with the ground beside him, and the young woman tensed beside her Alakazam.

"I would rather die than end up like you," she hissed. She began raising her left hand in command.

"Then I shall be happy to help you," Giovanni said calmly. He pointed the Silph scope at her just as a desecrated body rose from the ground, scattering rubble and dust all around it, its mouth glowing even brighter than Sigma's star. The Alakazam's eyes grew round.

"Hyper Beam."

In the instant Giovanni's mouth formed the words, Sigma teleported just besides the young woman, the force of his movement knocking her back behind him. The bright white beam, at least a foot in diameter, shot directly at the Alakazam instead. There was a flash, several new splatters of blood, and a thunderous crash that drowned out screams of pain. In that instant, a single, gasping chest was rising and falling spastically, desperately, as a wave of uniformed people swarmed the mostly empty gym. Some tended to most of the young woman remaining on the ground, and the rest spread out in search of the criminal that had left a path of destruction behind him.

Amidst the shouting and the shining lights, a single ghostly figure rose from the ruins of the gym, a pale glowing violet against the stars.


	2. The Beginning?

"Lyra, Ethan. Are you two ready to begin your journey as trainers throughout this blessed region?"

The old man spoke regally in front of the small crowd that had gathered by his laboratory, but Tess knew him better than a fancy-sounding elder. Her gastly floated behind her, making a soft giggling noise as though he agreed with her. But it was impossible to know exactly why he laughed sometimes; he made similar noises for any situation.

"Quiet, Omi, this is a big moment for those kids," she murmured at him. Omi glanced at her and closed his mouth, but a muffled cackle escaped his gaseous body. Tess shrugged and looked back towards the ceremony, wincing as her left wrist creaked uncomfortably in the damp air. The two teenagers were decked out in brand new traveling gear, with hats and fingerless gloves and bags bulging with supplies. Their new starter pokemon were sitting restlessly at their sides, and something about the whole scene set butterfrees in her stomach as though in anticipation. It was a familiar feeling she couldn't and didn't want to place, and she turned her attention back to the professor's speech.

"I hope you two find your cyndaquil and chikorita to be lifelong reliable partners and friends, and make many more as you aid me in my research and create unbreakable bonds in the future," Professor Elm finished, bowing as the crowd clapped generously for the two beaming trainers with their pokemon in tow.

"Remembering your own starting ceremony?" One of Elm's assistants nudged Tess's side gently with one elbow as he spoke. She laughed a little too hard as he adjusted his glasses. "I remember mine like it was yesterday. It was this little ratatta my father had caught for me, and…"

"Tess!" the professor called, gesturing in her direction.

Tess grinned apologetically. "Gotta go, sorry!" she said as she slipped away, sighing a breath of relief as Omi floated quietly behind her. She jogged up to the elderly man, straightening her uniform when she approached him. Elm glanced at her clothing somewhat disapprovingly.

"I still can't believe you turned down an assistant position at Oak's lab and took up the blues instead," he said sourly. His voice remained light, however, and Tess rolled her eyes.

"We've been over this, Professor Elm," she remarked. "Professor Oak doesn't need someone who isn't going to continue his work. Besides," Tess added cheekily, "you can't ignore the fact the kids in New Bark Town have cleaned up some of their acts enough for you to consider them to become trainers, you know."

"Hey, I heard that! I've never been bad," Lyra complained, shuffling over to join the adults. "I've been volunteering at Elm's lab for the last two years!" She adjusted her wide hat as her cyndaquil hopped up behind her, his back already flaring weakly in her defense. Tess crouched down to the small pokemon.

"Don't you sass me, you," she teased. "I raised _you_ from an egg." The cyndaquil huffed a small cloud of smoke and turned his back on Tess, and she stood back up to face the young trainer. Omi began investigating the tiny smokescreen with great interest.

"And you," Tess retorted, "were chucking balloons filled with paint at Elm's laboratory before you started making up for it, and you dragged poor Ethan into helping you half the time."

Lyra pouted, defeated, and turned away to march back to her human companion. Tess grinned and turned back to Elm, who still wore a sullen look on his face. "You learn how to deal with people when you're training as an investigator," she said with a shrug.

Elm sighed and flipped through his papers. "Listen, Tess, if you're not too busy with your police work, I need you to help me," he said matter-of-factly. Tess groaned.

"Another errand? Elm, I'm not working for you anymore, I can't just-"

"I already spoke to Officer Eugene, and he agrees going out of town will be helpful for you as well as myself," Elm interrupted. He glared at her and she flinched out of habit. "You've been cooped up in this little town for far longer than your doctor _and_ mechanic recommended-"

"- I told you to I can take care of myself-"

"- and I'm expecting a delivery from Mr. Pokemon that will arrive much more quickly and cheaply if you do it instead."

Tess snorted. "Mr. Pokemon? The self-proclaimed 'expert' that the entire science community has been criticizing for the last decade? Who also named himself after an entire phylum of creatures?"

"Mr. Pokemon is a renowned professor in pokemon physiology that you will not only respect but also behave around when you reach him," Elm said sharply. Tess looked away, somewhat resentful. "He has found something that he believes will be in my interest to study, and would prefer that a personally trained assistant come pick it up."

"I'm not your only (former) assistant," Tess retorted. "You have enough people working for you to start an army." A few stragglers from the ceremony glanced at the two of them arguing louder and she glared back in response. They eyed her uniform and quickly looked away.

"Trained didn't necessarily mean in pokemon biology," Elm replied.

Her eyes widened in realization and she began to shake her head. "No, no, no," Tess snapped emphatically. "I'm done with that whole business. Done. Finished. Completed. It's been years-"

"Three," Elm muttered.

"- _years_ , and Omi isn't even trained to fight." The gastly trilled at the sound of his name. Tess gently laid her left hand on the more solid part of his body and he nuzzled her. "He's a big softie, you know that. Besides, you just registered two brand new trainers today, both of which would be ecstatic to run around for you if it means beating other people up."

Elm crossed his arms. "Lyra and Ethan may have experience with me, but they're easily excitable and I don't trust them with the contents of the package Mr. Pokemon is sending me. You know best that they are still quite immature, and eager to fight on their own, not continue working under me.

You don't even have to _fight_ ," Elm added. He gestured at her uniform. "All you'd be defending against are wild pokemon and even then, you can easily protect both Omi and yourself. Most trainers in near here are young amateurs and one look at you would deter them."

Tess groaned. He was right; despite the obvious talent the two new trainers displayed in dealing with pokemon, their first concerns would be directed towards training for the League Challenge. It wouldn't be fair to force them to stall their dreams. She knew she wasn't going to win this argument. And there was that feeling again, the niggling feeling that felt like it was pulling her somewhere far away. "When am I supposed to be gone?"

Elm glanced at his papers again. "Tomorrow; it'll take a day to walk through Route 29 to Cherrygrove City, and half a day to Mr. Pokemon's house on Route 30."

With a sigh, Tess turned around and began to scuffle away. "I'd better go get a checkup with Daphne then, and then I'll get ready to leave tomorrow."

"Come to my lab before you leave," he called as she walked off. "I'll have prepared some things for you."

Waving her acknowledgement, Tess trudged away, her gastly floating cheerfully behind her.

* * *

A/N: Thank you for reading my story so far! I am writing this purely as a side passion project, so please don't feel offended if I do not respond to any critical reviews. This isn't because I don't like critiques (I attend art school and it's a part of my life) but it is because this is a very casual story that I don't want anyone (including myself, I am a busy beedrill) to waste too much energy on something I am creating entirely for fun. But don't let that stop you if you find anything so bad it ruins the whole thing for you. Feel free to speak your opinions, I enjoy any kind of feedback!

I hope you all enjoy the ride. I'm certainly enjoying playing along on my copy of Soul Silver, so sit back and have fun, everyone.


End file.
